Bentley in Wool Equities chair

Wellington company director Richard Bentley is to chair the establishment board of Wool Board successor Wool Equities.

Wool Equities will be vested with the Wool Board's shareholdings in Ovita, Covita, Wool Interiors and Keratec. Most of the board's cash reserves will be distributed to eligible wool growers as redeemable preference shares in the company, under a restructuring plan proposed in the Wool Industry Restructuring Bill.

Bentley said each of the businesses Wool Equities would have a stake in had the potential to deliver an ongoing return to farmer shareholders.

Bentley, a director and former chief executive of Natural Gas Corp, is chairman of Rissington Breedline, a genetics company, and Crop and Food Research.